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 | Volume 1 (2008) |
Crosbies
Settlement – Coromandel Forest Park, NZ
Description,
History and Photos
Map References:
Background and Location
Figure 1 DoC signpost on the main track through Crosbies
Crosbies Settlement is an old farm settlement that was established in the Coromandel Ranges in 1880. It was farmed until about 1970, when the area (or most of it) was subsumed into the Coromandel Forest Park. This document has been compiled from the archaeological record for the site, and is intended to provide background information, history etc for prospective visitors.
The site is on the main ridge of the Coromandel Range, approximately 12 km north east of Thames. It can be reached via several different tracks, including Karaka, Waiotahi (4.5 hrs), Tararu, Te Puru (3 hrs), Waiomu (3 hrs), Tapu Hill (3 hrs) and Kauaeranga Valley (3-4 hrs - optional start points: Booms Flat, Wainora and Whangaiterenga camping grounds). The site is well marked on track information boards and maps.
The farmed area stretches for approximately 5 km along the main ridge of the Coromandel Range. The grid reference for the DoC “Crosbies Clearing” sign, roughly in the centre of the old farmed area, is: Easting 2740774 Northing 6459978.
Figure 2 Small clearing remaining on the track through Crosbies, along the
main ridge
of the Coromandel Range
History
Crosbies Settlement is part of a block of
land known as the Waikawau block. This
was purchased by the Crown in 1872, from its previous owners, Ngati Tamatera,
under controversial circumstances, and is still subject to a Treaty of Waitangi
claim (Waitangi Tribunal document WAI 418 B1, 2002). From 1864, Crown land purchaser
James Mackay had been steadily acquiring land in the Hauraki area for the
Crown, mainly in connection with the opening and development of the Coromandel
goldfields. Mackay commonly used a
controversial method that became known as raihana,
which involved the extension of credit to individuals known to share the
ownership of Maori land, to allow them to purchase goods or supplies, using the
land as security. When the total owing
had built up to a substantial amount, the Iwi were confronted with the amount
of their “debt” and pressured into settling it. This often necessitated the
sale of the relevant block of land, usually at rates favourable to the
Crown.
In the case of the Waikawau block, there was
even more controversy, as a large amount of credit was extended to Ngati
Tamatera to purchase supplies for the tangi of two important chiefs, Taraia
Ngakuti and Paora Te Putu.
Early European history of Crosbies Settlement
was provided by Mike Saunders, a long-time resident of Thames (Saunders, 2002, Saunders, 2006). The original settler, Thomas
Hunter Crosbie, was born in Scotland in 1840 and emigrated to NZ, arriving in
Auckland on 1st December 1863 on board the ship Green Jacket. In 1880, he
established a small farm (since known as Crosbies Settlement) in the Coromandel
Ranges behind Thames. Thomas Crosbie had
seven children, including sons Jim, Jack and Clem Crosbie.
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Figure 3 Jim Crosbie, son of the original settler |
Figure 4 Joshua Lyes at his Irishtown home circa 1933, aged about
70 |
In 1880, part of the Waikawau block was surveyed
and subdivided into five blocks, each of approximately three hundred acres.
The original owners were as follows: Thomas H. Crosbie (block later
sold to the Lyes family), James Patterson (block almost immediately sold to
Arthur Repton),Hugh Mackie (later sold to Charles Boxall), William Crispe (later sold to Robert Clyde) and C.D. (Charles) Wright
(Isdale, Undated p.26)
. The block containing the area
more recently known as The Pines (see Figures 12-13) was in the name of T.H.
Crosbie. Another block immediately
to the south east was later sold to Janet Grey, daughter of Thomas Crosbie.
Only a few of these blocks were cleared or utilised
to any extent, and several had absentee owners
(Clover, 2004 p.760, Sutton, 2006)
.
The Crosbie block (later owned by the Lyes family) was the only one
with significant owner-occupation, leading to the popular name of Crosbies Settlement.
The Crosbie sons spent a great deal of their
early lives collecting kauri gum, which the Coromandel had in abundance. The gum was transported to Thames by pack
horse, where it was sold to traders, who came mainly from Auckland by
ship. The Thames goldfield opened in
1867, and virtually overnight, Thames became a thriving town. Jim Crosbie eventually moved to Thames and
became foreman of the Sylvia mine, which was one of the highest producing mines
in the Thames goldfield (Nolan, 1977 p.24). He had a family of eight children; one of
whom was Ruby Saunders, Mike Saunders’ mother.
Ruby passed away on 2nd January 2006, 20 days before her 103rd
birthday.
Figure 5 An early building at Crosbies Settlement (date unknown). There is debate as to whether this was the original Crosbie homestead, or whether it is the building known as the "woolshed" which was situated on CD Wright's block and later became the NZFS hut, until it was blown down in the 1980s. The latter is probably correct.
Figure 6 Survey map of Crosbies Settlement area, dated 1880
According to Mike Saunders (2002): “As a young boy I
used to see Jim Crosbie almost every weekend and he would spend many hours
sitting on the back porch of his home telling stories about his friends, a
large percentage of whom were Maori, and how they would hunt for food and live
off the land.”
Some interesting events that occurred during
the Crosbie family occupation were as follows.
In August 1886, Thomas Crosbie “…tried to attract prospectors to find
gold, offering half his four-roomed house for their accommodation. ‘I know gold-bearing quartz exists in the
vicinity of my farm’” (Isdale, Undated p.38). On 29th May 1902,
Mrs T.H. Crosbie suffered a thigh injury caused by falling over a log and had
to be manually carried out by stretcher to the Thames hospital (Isdale, Undated p.110). On 28th July 1905,
the Crosbie homestead was destroyed by fire.
“It was thought fortunate that the gum store was not destroyed, the gum
being worth something, while the 5 or 6 roomed house and contents were not
believed to be insured” (Isdale, Undated p.121).
In 1917,
the Crosbie family sold The Pines block to Joshua and Elizabeth Lyes, who also
leased the block to the south east from Janet Grey. Information on the next phase of Crosbies
Settlement history was provided by Joshua and Elizabeth’s daughter, Madge
Sutton (nee Lyes) (Clover, 2004) and her son Ray Sutton (Sutton, 2006).
Joshua
Lyes was a Thames miner who contracted miners’ lung disease and was advised to
live at a higher altitude, so the family purchased, and moved to, the Crosbie
farm. Madge Lyes did not move to
Crosbies initially, but did so about a year after her father. She lived at Crosbies from age 11 until
“about 19” (Clover, 2004 p.673) and undertook school lessons
there, by correspondence.
The Lyes
family lived by farming and gardening, and selling surplus produce in Thames
and the surrounding area. They were
quite well established, with a three-bedroom homestead, a dairy for producing
cream and butter, a two-bale cowshed (all built by the Crosbies) and stables
for three horses (built by the Lyes, of timber pit-sawn on site and a shingle
roof). There was a large vegetable
garden and a fruit orchard, and coal was mined from near the Waiwawa River at
the eastern end of the property (Clover, 2004, Sutton, 2006).
According to Madge Sutton: “We killed our own meat and some we pickled
in the big tubs we got from the hotel.
We made our own brine and the simple test was when a potato floated in
the brine, it was the right density.” (Clover, 2004 p.762)
Conditions,
however, were harsh; particularly the weather.
As noted by Madge Sutton: “Dad took out quite a lot of stock which he
had bought from farms on the Hauraki Plains.
They were yearlings which had been born on the Plains and I think most
of them died with the hard conditions. … There was also a lot of cold
wind. We would cut whitey-wood and
five-finger for them but they still died.
They were not bred for conditions at Crosbies.” (Clover, 2004 p.762)
In 1926,
Joshua Lyes’ health deteriorated and the family moved back to their original
house in Irishtown, Thames, after a short period farming in the Kauaeranga
Valley. According to Madge Sutton: “The
house was left at Crosbies, but someone came up from Tapu, took everything …
and then set the house alight” (Clover, 2004 pp.768-769).
However, the Lyes family retained ownership of their block until it was
subsumed into the Coromandel Forest Park in 1970 (Sutton, 2006).
Figure 7 A group at the Crosbies homestead. From left: Joshua Lyes, Jack Crosbie, Jim Crosbie, Clem Crosbie.
Figure 8 Group travelling
to Crosbies, in the area known as The Jam Tins (junction of the Tararu track
with the main Thames-Crosbies track).
From left: Jack Crosbie, Jim Crosbie, Joshua Lyes, Clem Crosbie.
The
ownership history of the other blocks has not been investigated, but according
to Ray Sutton (2006), one block remained in private
ownership when the Coromandel Forest Park was formed. This is consistent with some topographic
maps, which show one block that is not part of the park (e.g. InfoMap 336-11,
Coromandel, 1:100,000). Modern survey
maps of the area also show the block immediately to the north west of the
Crosbie/Lyes block is still in private ownership (Dunwoodie, 2006 and supporting maps).
One of
the major problems influencing the long-term future of the settlement was
access – this issue was addressed many times over the years, with Isdale (Undated pp. 26, 29, 30, 86, 110, 114, 181) recording it as being raised with
the Thames County Council on at least seven different occasions. Initially, access was by foot only, then by
horseback, and at one stage this was improved enough to allow access by
horse-drawn sledge. However, erosion
meant this capability was short-lived (Clover, 2004 p.746).
In 1923, when the Tapu-Coroglen Road was under construction, a proposal
was made to route the road to Thames via Crosbies Settlement, rather than
through Tapu. The route via Crosbies
would have been approximately six miles shorter and have a lesser grade. However, taking into account already existing
roading between Tapu and Thames, the Crosbies route would have been more
expensive, and the option was rejected (Isdale, Undated p.181).
In 1966,
Isdale (Undated p.203) records that Crosbies Settlement
was rated as “… not suitable for development. (Already practically deserted as
erosion of skeletal soils had taken over so that … sheep were getting bogged in
the fields. By now getting overgrown.)”. By the mid-1960s, the cleared area had
reverted to approximately 50% bush, and was farmed on a small scale by a Mr
Alfie Boyer, who lived on the Thames Coast and travelled to and from Crosbies
on horseback via the Te Puru track (personal recollections of the author,
1967-69). It is not clear whether Alfie
Boyer owned any land there, or was simply “squatting”. By the late 1960s, the only building in the
area still standing was a small single-bail woolshed (complete with shearing
equipment) with an adjoining hut containing a few bunks. This was at the northern end of the
settlement and was probably on the block owned by Charlie Wright, which was
“…on the top of the hill to the Tapu/Coroglen road” (Sutton, 2006 and supporting papers).
In 1970,
the Coromandel Forest Park was established.
The Crosbies Settlement area (apparently less one block) became part of
the park and the woolshed was converted into a trampers’ hut by the (then) NZ
Forest Service. The hut blew over in the
late 1970s or early 1980s (Donald, 2006, and personal recollection of
the author).
The
latest noteworthy event in the history of the settlement is a very sad
one. In 1989, a pair of Swedish
tourists, Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen, went missing while tramping in the
area. A detailed search was conducted,
concentrating on the Crosbies area, but only one body was ever found, about 70
kilometres away. In 1990, David Tamihere
was charged and convicted of murdering the couple (NZPA, 2000).
There is a memorial to Urban and Heidi situated on top of the lookout
hill at the southern end of the settlement.
A site
survey was conducted on 22 October 2006, by David Wilton, Hannah Cowie and
David Carley. The party approached from
the Tapu Hill and departed from the memorial lookout, to Thames via the
Waiotahi track. A search was conducted
around The Pines area, based on a marked photo supplied by Ray Sutton. This was taken from the memorial lookout hill
around the 1920s and shows the locations of the four farm buildings relative to
the shelter belts, and other features of the farm. Numerous artefacts were found, including
items of farm machinery, sheets of galvanised iron, fences and a series of low
stone walls. Photos and details are
provided in the next section.
Photos, Maps and Diagrams
GPS
Waypoints (compiled during site survey 22nd
October 2006)
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Waypoint Number |
NZ Map Grid Reference |
Details |
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200 |
E2740455
N6462905 |
First fence encountered on track in from Tapu Hill
road |
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201 |
E2740296
N6460041 |
Prominent lookout point overlooking gully with NZFS
hut site (northern end of settlement) |
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202 |
E2740774
N6459978 |
DoC “Crosbies Clearing” sign |
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203 |
E2740891
N6460011 |
Metal tub |
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204 |
E2741568
N6458938 |
Gatepost with chain and remnants of gate |
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205 |
E2741711
N6458862 |
Gatepost with chain |
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206 |
E2741744
N6458866 |
Piece of iron machinery with old beer bottle |
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207 |
E2741671
N6458807 |
Low stone wall running west from this point, length approx
22m |
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208 |
E2741710
N6458768 |
Harrow |
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209 |
E2741780
N6458724 |
Metal brace or cable clamp |
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210 |
E2741709
N6458692 |
Sheet of galvanised iron, bent to make a fireplace |
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211 |
E2741783
N6458823 |
Two sheets of galvanised iron (bottom one badly
corroded) with timber post or rafter |
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212 |
E2741690
N6458848 |
Low stone wall running east-west |
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Crosbi |
E2741798
N6458422 |
Lookout hill with memorial to Swedish tourists |
Photos
and Diagrams
Figure 15 Similar view in 2006
Figure 16 Old galvanised iron tub (waypoint 203)
Figure 17 Gatepost with chain and remnants of gate (waypoint 204)
Figure 18 Unknown piece of machinery and old beer bottle (waypoint 206)
Figure 19 Harrow, with spikes approx 10 cm long
Clover,
K. (2004), "Interview with Mrs Madge Sutton (nee Lyes) 5th August 1993"
The People of "The Plains",
Hamilton.
Donald, K. (2006), Personal communication,
Thames.
Dunwoodie, M. (2006), Personal communication,
Thames.
Isdale, A. M. (Undated) Thames Coast Names and Places Collection, Thames.
Nolan, T. (1977) Historic Gold Trails of the Coromandel, AH & AW Reed,
Wellington.
NZPA (2000) Swedes'
killer up for parole but history is against him, NZ Herald, 1st December,
Auckland.
Saunders, M. (2002) History - Crosbies Settlement
Saunders, M. (2006), Personal communication,
Thames.
Sutton, R. (2006), Personal communication,
Thames.
Waitangi Tribunal document WAI 418 B1 (2002) Closing Submissions on Behalf of Ngati
Tamatera with respect to Waikawau. Waitangi Tribunal, Thames/Paeroa
